September 17th, 2019

Digitally Transforming to Build the Bridgestone Brand

Describe the Credit First National Association (CFNA) mission.

CFNA is proud to be a leader in customer-first payment solutions that earn loyalty and drive business in the communities we serve. We’re one of less than ten remaining special-purpose nationally chartered credit card banks in America. As the consumer credit division and payments arm of Bridgestone Americas, the CFNA payment program for tire services is offered at all 2,200 Bridgestone Retail Operations stores in the U.S. More than 5,500 Bridgestone affiliated dealers also accept the CFNA payment program.

How do you describe the disruption within the financial services world?

Today, everything in financial services is omnichannel. This includes how payment programs are presented, serviced and handled. If you’re not digital, you’re not anywhere. When I joined CFNA three years ago, we were just embarking on our digital transformation journey. We recognized that we needed to invest in enhancing our systems to grow our business and connect with customers where they are. DMI has been instrumental in enabling this effort.

How do you meet the changing needs of your customers?

Our vision is to create a customer experience that is on-demand and self-service. Customers today don’t want to pick up the phone and talk to a customer service agent to resolve an issue or obtain their statement. They want to do that online, and with ease. We’re also exploring developing an app to connect consumers to other products and services within the Bridgestone digital offering. We aspire to offer digital wallet services to securely store customer payment information so customers can purchase items online or with their phone.

As CFNA’s President, what are your business goals?

Our goal is to ensure we’re supporting Bridgestone’s vision to extend the brand. We’re doing this by working to make our payments program part of a loyalty program designed to grow our customer base and get consumers to shop preferentially with us because they know we can effectively help them take care of their vehicle. Consumers need payment options, and we want to be part of their wallet.

How is DMI delivering value to your organization?

As CFNA makes progress on its digital transformation journey, DMI is a strategic partner that has enabled us to transform our service offerings to better service our existing customers and grow our business. We are excited to continue working with DMI to further enhance our offerings and improve the customer service experience.